Friday, October 22, 2010

I figured I should probably get on this blog and let everyone know I'm alive. A lot of people who read my blog (not that "a lot" of people read my blog...well, who knows really?) also read my Twin Meg's blog. And her last post was about my car accident. I think I will blog about the whole experience in a few days. It's still a little raw for me to talk about, and yes, I am still hurting, but every day it gets a little better and the emotions of it all are finally settling down a bit.

But, I wanted to let anyone who is wondering know that I am certainly alive and I am getting better. Thanks for the thoughts, notes, and prayers. I have felt so much love over the last 10 days and I appreciate it more than anyone can know.

Friday, July 30, 2010

I have been in a horrible mood for about a week. Some people might say longer.

I just need to get this all off my chest.

I am a grumpy goose. And I wish I could get over it. But I just can't seem to get out of this funk I am in...stupid me being in a stupid mood...

For historical purposes I would like to state what my last month has been like:

-I had a horrid kidney infection. For 3 days I had a fever of over 100 degrees that wouldn't break. It finally did. And I finally got a CT Scan which revealed a kidney stone in addition to the infection. It's still in my kidney though, so that will be a nice surprise when it decides to make it's presence known...

-I have been sicker than a dog. My Crohn's just thinks it can run my life. And at the moment it is. But I will conquer it again one day...I will, I swear

-It has been hot. I am not a fan of Summer. I can't wait for Fall and the crisp air...and then snow...snow is my favorite thing in the whole world...it makes me feel all peaceful and warm inside. And not warm as in it's 100 degrees outside so you can't sleep at night because you are a sweaty mess...that is not the "warm" I am talking about...

On a different note there have been a couple of good things happening as of late. First of all, we bought a new car. The car shopping experience was not fun...and I am not a fan of car salesman (I know, who is?) but we finally decided on this little beauty:

It is brand-spankin' new and I LOVE it. It's a Scion xD. We personalized the entire car and it only had 25 miles on it when we picked it up...oh, and our actual car has a bigger Spoiler than this picture...I like Spoilers and have never had one on my car, so I splurged :)

Also, Jesse's sister and her family are here from Germany. Her hubby, Lee, is in the Air Force and thus they move from place to place and I never get to see them...neither does anyone else for that matter, but this is my blog, so I shall state that "I" never get to see them. I love my Wilstead's and I wish I could see them more...they are headed to Spain for the next 11 months and then after that who knows...hopefully they will move to the States so we can visit them.

Thanks for listening to me peeps. My next post shall be about one of the greatest nights of my life...the night that Meg and I met the Barenaked Ladies...man was that amazing...so the next time you hear from me it shall be a positive post with fun pictures, I promise!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Dear Facebook,I know I haven't been a faithful follower lately, but I used to be addicted to you. I decided that I should let you know that I'm still here, but my reasons for logging on have changed.

I am no longer looking to find old friends. I just like to spy on people. That's right, spy. I don't like to look at stranger's profiles or anything, I just like to look at people's pictures that I used to know and who I am not in touch with anymore. Some of them I like, some of them I don't. But I surely appreciate that I can look into these people's lives and decide if getting re-acquainted is a good idea or not. And usually, just looking at their pictures is enough. And I like that.

So thank you, Facebook. For helping me find closure in some cases...and on certain days when I really need it you help me laugh when I find out that I'm not the only one who's gained 20 pounds since high school :) Good work Facebook. Good work.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

I know, I know, I haven't written anything in a LONG time. But I am just following the ol' saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Now I don't mean that I have un-nice things to say. I mean, I don't have anyone to rip on or anything (might I add that I love people, in general. So hopefully anyone out there who's reading this doesn't think that I would rip on someone, especially in writing :)...but, I don't really have anything really interesting to talk about. And I have been sicker than a dog. Yep. That's right. I guess people have been frustrated lately that I don't tell them when I'm sick and when I need something. Well, here we go...I am sick. Sick, sick, sick. No, I don't need anything. But I did tell my sweet brother the other day that what I could really use is some slack. If I am not my talkative-self, please forgive me. If I see you out and about and I don't look too happy to see you please don't take it personally. At the moment I can't handle much. Even the slightest thing puts me over the edge...I even get overwhelmed when my phone rings...

Anyway, that's enough of that. The point of that whole last paragraph was to let you know (does anyone even read this blog?) that I haven't been posting because I can't think of anything of note to say. But, I was reading my cute friend Julie's blog and she had her "Crazy 8's" posted so I thought, "There's something I can do." So here we go:

CRAZY 8's

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch:1. Better Off Ted2. The Bachelor/Bachelorette (I always tell myself at the beginning of the season to remember that it's not a big deal who the person chooses in the end, but I always end up caring...sad, I know, but true...) 3. Glee 4. Community 5. Parks and Recreation 6. The Deep End 7. Big Bang Theory 8. The Office

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:1. The Wilstead's coming here for the Summer!2. Leaving work :)3. Eating the cake-bites my cute Mom brought me from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. She's so good to me! 4. Deciding which pictures to put up in the new picture frames in my room5. Hanging out with Meg...6. Hanging out with Jesse...7. Seeing Toy Story 3!8. Sleeping...

8 Things On My Wish List:1. Get feeling better!2. Get cast in another show...I need something to distract me...3. Sleep4. Sleep5. Sleep6. Go to Disneyland (I know, I know, that's the story of my life, but I really need to go again soon!)

7. Lose a few pounds...again, that's the story of my life...

8. Get a puppy!

8 People I Tag:

1. Amy

2. Meg

3. Andee

4. Liz

5. Ford

6. April

7. Becky

8. Stephanie

Thanks for listening peeps! I hope everyone/anyone who reads this are doing well!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

My birthday was over a month ago, but today was just one of those bad days, and I need something happy to bring me out of this blah mood, and what better to do that than to reminisce about a birthday weekend with my best friend Meg in DISNEYLAND?!

So, our birthday is on Valentine's Day. It happened to be on a Sunday this year, so we decided that we would fly out on Friday night after work, have a few hours to play in the park, sleep at our hotel across the street, play all day Saturday, play all day Sunday, and then fly back Monday morning (which happened to be President's Day, so we both had the day off work). It was the perfect plan. And we were very excited for our trip.

We got to the airport at 2:30. Our plane was to leave at 4:30.

We got to our gate at 3:30, and about 30 minutes later we were informed that our flight was delayed. For 4 hours.

Meg and I both have horrible anxiety about flying, so we had both taken a Xanax when we got to the airport (before we knew about the delay). The brunt of the calmness that comes with Xanax was wasted on the hours spent in the airport. But we laughed the whole time and it didn't even matter that we weren't going to Disneyland that night. Because hanging out with Meg is a vacation in and of itself in my opinion.

(Here we are a few hours into our delay...sitting on the airport floor....)

(Meg being a punk)

(Here I am laughing about the fact that my straw was cardboard...it tainted the taste of my wonderful hot chocolate...oh, and we were laughing about the drunk man next to us. He was talking jibberish)(I was sad once I was about half way through my hot chocolate because my cardboard straw was soggy...sick...really, who thought of a cardboard straw? It was a horrible idea.)(We finally made it to the park the next morning! Woohoo!!!!)(Here's Meg being the nut-job that she is in line for Small World)(More Meg...waiting in line at Pirates, one of our favorite rides...but everyone loves it, right?!)(Here we are with Minnie!!!!)(Here I am in Bell's library)(We were leaving the park when we took this picture...we were very crazed and tired :)(Here we are at Chip & Dale's Country Critter Breakfast on the morning of our Birthday. This was my favorite part of the trip!)

(Meg & Dale seeing each other for the first time...)(Dale giving Meg a birthday kiss. I love her facial expression!)(Waiting in line for the Alice In Wonderland ride...not my favorite ride, but still a necessity when you go to Disneyland)(And finally, just for the heck of it, here is our Birthday dinner spread at my Mom's house...she is always so good to us. Thanks cutest Mom for making life a party!)(And finally, here we are blowing out the candles. I wonder how often Meg & I wish for the EXACT same thing...we can't talk about it, of course, because then it wouldn't come true ;) but I bet it happens a lot...)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I haven't been too chatty lately. That's why I haven't been blogging. There really isn't anything going on in my life right now that's fun enough to talk about. I have been sicker than a dog for the last few months, but who wants to hear about that? And Jesse hates it when I post things that aren't upbeat, so I don't like getting on here and telling stories unless I have something upbeat to say...and thus I haven't blogged in a while.

I do want to say a few things though.

First of all, I am grateful for friends who let me come to their house late at night because I am too lonely and too sick to be alone. Thanks for taking care of me Jake & Manon, even though I wasn't much fun to be with and I didn't look so hot. You guys are always so good to me.

Second, I am grateful for this little guy... He is always so concerned about me and he always keeps me laughing....I mean, why is he in the fridge? And why is he so serious about being in the fridge? And why must he open my cupboards and destroy everything inside? He just gets these ideas in his head and he has to go through with them. I love him. And I am so grateful that he makes my home so interesting.

Third, I am grateful for Jesse's job. It is extremely comforting that he has a job that he loves and that they love him right back. He works for Varian Medical and his job is very secure. They have sent him on several business trips lately, and while I am very sick of him being gone, I am grateful that they are investing so much in him.

And finally, let me just say that I feel like answers are right around the corner for me. Things can only get better. And I will be my happy, upbeat self once more...I promise!

Friday, February 19, 2010

The dang coolest person in the world (my awesome friend Michelle) wrote an embarrassing story from her past on her blog and I decided I would do the same. Her story happened to her in 6th grade, and one of my most memorable moments (which seemed like the end-of-the-world at the time) was in 6th grade as well.

Let me just give you a little visual...I don't think I can post a 6th grade picture of me. I just don't want that out there for the world to see. I was scraggly. And I don't mean a little bit. For those of you who have only known me over the last 5-10 years, you don't know much about me because 6th grade was the most defining year of my life. I still feel like a 6th-grader inside.

While I was in 6th grade I was skinny. Like rail thin. I think I was about 5 feet tall and I weighed 80 pounds. I never showered, I never did my hair, and I was always outside playing a sport of some sort. I was a tom-boy through and through. And I had absolutely NO chest.

Again, for those of you who know me now, you know that I have the complete opposite of "NO chest". But that didn't happen for me until 9th grade. Anyway, I was not concerned about the no-chest fact because I didn't want to bother with girlie things, but when my boyfriend decided to break up with me for a more girlie-girl, I decided it was time to ask my mom for a bra. Yep. A boy made me make that decision.

Now, the fact that I got a bra didn't change my outer appearance. I still wore a bright yellow over-sized T-shirt with matching yellow stretch-shorts along with matching yellow socks (which I folded over halfway) and black sandals (yep...head-to-toe bright yellow and socks and sandals to top it all off)...but I knew that I was wearing that bra and it had to have some effect, right? Right.

The problem with not NEEDING a bra is that it's easy to forget to wear it sometimes.

And sometimes I would forget where I placed it.

And so, our story begins:

It was the last week of 6th grade. We were going to have our sports day (I don't remember what it's called...if you remember Ford or Meg, will you please leave it as a comment on this post so I can remember?) and the school had asked Meg & me to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the opening ceremonies. We were pumped! My mom recorded the piano part on a cassette tape and I lugged her big boom-box to school with me on the bus that day...in a black garbage bag. Why did I bother putting it in a bag when the boom-box had a handle you might ask? Well I have no idea. I often make things more complicated then they need to be...maybe it's because I wanted someone to ask me what was in the bag? I don't know...

So I lug the massive boom-box to my classroom in the black plastic garbage bag and I then remove the boom-box from the bag so Meg & I can warm up to the music in the bathroom. I have butterflies as I walk down the hallway to the bathroom. People are whispering and there's a lot of excitement in the air, and I am just feeling really cool in my yellow outfit with my scraggly hair and my socks and sandals. Meg and I practice and then we head back to our classrooms. We are nervous but excited. Only a few minutes until our singing debut. But then, as I make my way to my classroom I can hear the boys laughing and talking...I can hear the word "bra" being said by several different voices...I quickly feel my back to see if I happened to remember to put mine on today...it's not there...but there's no way that the group of people huddled up in my classroom could be seeing my bra...my tiny little white bra lying on the floor...and I look...yep, it's mine...it must have made it into that classy black plastic garbage bag somehow...but as I break through the circle to pick it up (I had to pick it up, I couldn't just leave it there...though now that I look back it would've been the smart thing to do...I didn't need it anyway) I did something that I will forever regret...I really and truly am forever sorry about what I said as I picked the little white thing off the floor... "Oh, this is Megan's bra...I'll go give it to her..." And off I went to slip it on in the bathroom.

Needless to say I was sick about lying all day long and I had to tell Meg the truth when we got home that night because the guilt was just killing me...and Meg being the cool person that she is forgave me...though she did want me to confess to it so she didn't have that hanging over her head for the last week of school, but what was I supposed to do? Bring up the horrible ordeal again and say, "Does anyone remember the bra that was on the floor yesterday? Well, it wasn't Megan's, it was mine." It never happened. And I still owe you for that Meg. I'll take you to Frogurt tonight. My treat. And then maybe scraggly little Chelsea's most embarrassing memory can finally be laid to rest...

The moral of this story: Don't bring your boom-box to school in a black plastic gargabe bag.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday. He's 29 years old. I am more in love with him today than I was on our wedding day. We have been through so much together, but through thick and thin we have stuck together and it has paid off. I love him with all of my heart. I decided to list the top 5 reasons why I love "my Kight" (his middle name is Knight, so I always call him "my Knight") and why I am so happy to be called "Jesse's girl":

1. His smile

There is a sort of innocence about his smile, but there is also a hint of mischievousness to it as well. He is always up to something...it's usually good, but he's always surprising me and keeping me on my tows. No two days are the same with him and I appreciate that more than he will ever know...

2. His heart.

Jesse always does sweet and spontaneous things for me. I often get love notes and flowers "just because" and I love it when he drops by my office unexpected. He is also very giving of his time to others. Whether it be helping a friend put shelves up in their garage or driving his cute mom home from the hospital, he's always sacrificing for others and I love that about him.

3. His relationship with Meg.

Jesse and Meg are truly brother and sister. You could almost call them best friends. They have been through a lot together and have spent many hours at my side taking care of me. At first there was a bit of competition to see "who Chelsea loved more" and Meg swears Jesse broke her toe in a leg wrestle in which the winner would gain the title of "the one Chelsea loved the most"...(which ended up to be a tie, just so you know ;) but not matter what they are honest with each other, they chat for hours on end, and sometimes they talk about things with each other that I have no idea about. I am grateful that he accepted Meg as part of the package when we got married and that they love each other completely.

(this is a picture of Meg & Jesse going down a zip-line into a pond at the Hubbard Family Reunion. She was scared to death as you can see, but she trusted Jesse enough to give it a shot. Notice Jesse's smile, he can't believe Meg actually agreed to do it...and yes, Meg comes to the Hubbard Family Reunions :)

4. He is a steady force...

As many of you know I am pretty dramatic and am known to be pretty emotional. It can be a good thing, but it can also be a very bad thing in tense situations. But no matter what the situation is Jesse is there. Solid as a rock. In the 8 years I have known him he has lost his temper maybe 3 times. And I am in awe of that. It is a characteristic that I can only dream of, and I appreciate his patience with me all of the time...

(Another Hubbard Family Reunion picture in Ibapah. He asked me to jump out of this tree and I wanted to shock him, so I said I would, but once I got up in the tree I wanted to get back down, so he came up the ladder to help me be calm and to reassure me that it would be fun. Yes, it was fun. No, I would never do it again)

5. Forgiving.

Finally, Jesse is very forgiving. He gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, no matter what. He wants to believe in the best in people and I benefit from his forgiveness often. It seems like whenever we happen to have an argument or disagreement we can always understand each other in the end and a simple kiss can solve everything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE! I love you with all of my heart and hope this year is a fabulous one for you. You deserve it!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Some of you know about my 7 year battle with abdominal issues. I have been told that I have Crohn's Disease, but there is no cure and there is no perfect method of treatment for it since they don't know what causes it. From February of 2003 until September of 2006 I tried dozens and dozens of different medications and we finally found some that worked. The medication that worked for me from September of 2006 until around September of 2009 has started to be less and less effective and the last few months have been agonizing for me. I am in constant pain and have constant nausea and I don't enjoy many things since I am suffering pretty much all the time.

In December I received my 5th colonoscopy so they could see if there were holes in my intestinal wall...but everything came back "normal". As grateful as I was that everything was "normal" I was also upset that I was going thru such a bad flare-up and I wasn't getting any relief.

My G.I. Specialist decided that it was time to do a test that I've never had to do before. It's called a Small Capsule Endoscopy and the gist of the test is that I swallowed a MASSIVE pill (seriously people, it was the size of two Jolly Ranchers stuck together) which was really a little camera that was taking pictures every few seconds and it transmitted pictures to a little computer that I wore for 8 hours.

It's been a week and a half since that test and I finally received a phone call from my doctor yesterday to discuss the results. He told me that for the first 4 hours after I swallowed the pill all of the pictures were from my stomach. The pill never left my stomach. Then after 4 hours I ate a small lunch since that was what I was instructed to do, and he said for another 4 hours the pill took pictures of my stomach full of food.

The average person's stomach empties every 60-90 minutes. He said that "worst case scenario" the soup that I had for lunch should've left my stomach after 60 minutes. But after 4 hours it was still there.

Knowing this won't solve all of my problems, but I am grateful that I'm not crazy :) and that we have a good starting point to know what I need next.

The next step will be to get an endoscopy where they'll look at the ulcers I now have in my stomach (another thing we discovered from this test), then they'll pull the camera-tube-thing back up, they'll wake me up, I'll sallow that dang horse pill again, and then they'll knock me out again, put the camera-tube-thing down my throat again and they'll guide the pill past my stomach so they can check out the rest of my intestines.

The point of this post wasn't to have people feeling sorry for me, nor was it to gross anyone out, but I just have to say that I am overwhelmed with gratitude at this moment. I am grateful that I have a boss who is trying to be as understanding as possible when I have to leave for an hour or two to get some medicine and lie down for a while, that I have a family who loves and supports me and who prays and fasts for me often, and that I have been blessed with amazing doctors in my life who don't want me to suffer anymore. I really am truly grateful that we can get more answers soon and that one day I can be some-what normal :)

(Below is a picture of one of the pill-cams available...mine looked a lot like this one, but it was bigger and it had different coloring...)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I saw this little quiz on one of my friend's blogs and decided it would be fun to give it a try...feel free to do this on your own blog if anyone reads this because I would love to see what your answers are.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you had never done before? Went to Hawaii! Man was it fun, I can't believe I waited so long to go there. Hopefully we will be going again soon!

2. What would you like in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Thicker skin...

3. My best memory of 2009? My niece Cameron being born. That chick is hilarious and I am so grateful that she is part of our family!

6. Did you or someone you know suffer an illness? Oddly enough this was the healthiest year I've had in a long time. That was one of the best parts of 2009 in my opinion. But the biggest illness my family experienced this year was the recovery of my brother-in-law Ryan when he gave his kidney to a friend. But he's the one who sacrificed the most (and my sister Marissa sacrificed a lot to do that to). Good work Ryan, you are truly amazing!

7. What was your best purchase? Tickets to Disneyland :)

8. What behavior merited celebration this year? Being less of a procrastinator then I used to be. I still procrastinate, but it's gotten SO much better.

9. What behavior appalled or depressed you? Anxiety

10. Where did all your money go? Our house. I don't spend money very much, so the house payment is the biggest bill we have in our life and I'm grateful for that!

11. What was your favorite song for 2009? Paramore's "the only exception"

12. Who was your biggest influence of 2009? My sister Marissa. She had a baby and took care of a husband recovering from major surgery while still managing to be her charming self. She's always so good to me and I'm just so grateful to have her as my big sister. I love you Marisk!

13. What was your favorite new TV show? Modern Family

14. What was your favorite new book? "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict" by Laurie Viera Rigler. I randomly purchased this book while I was in San Francisco on a lovely weekend get-away with my Mom, step-dad Tim, and Jesse. They were sweet enough to treat us to this trip just for the heck of it and it was one of the greatest trips of my life. Thanks Mom and McTimmy!

15. What was your favorite new movie? I can't decide between "Up" by Disney/Pixar, "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock, who I LOVE, and "Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Downey Jr., who I also LOVE. They were all fabulous for different reasons :)

16. What is your favorite new fashion? Cardigans are a pretty big fashion currently, and since I LOVE cardigans I am very happy that I can find them pretty much anywhere and they are in fun colors and prints.

17. What has kept you sane? Meg, of course. Though sometimes she is the reason why I'm crazy, she is also my sanity. LOVE YOU MEG!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The 2009 Holiday season was a great one. We had tons of fun parties to attend, and as usually there was good food to be had.

First of all, there was the Anderson Family Christmas Party. Since I was a little girl this has been my favorite party of the year, and though it's not the same now that all of my cousins are grown up and have their own children, it is still fun to get together to chat, eat and have fun. First we went bowling...I don't have pictures of this, but we did have a blast...and I think I might have had the worst score out of everyone. Is it just me, or does anyone else have bowling games that are over 100 or under 30? I can't be in the middle. I am either really good, or I really stink at bowling...and I happend to be having one of the not-so-good bowling days :)

After bowling we went to a nearby church to eat and have Santa come talk to the little kids and bring them presents. My poor cousin Marcee had just had surgery a couple of days before, but she was a good sport to come along for the ride anyway, and her cute husband Marc had never been to an Anderson Family Christmas Party but he'll be more prepared for it all next year :)

My Mom went nuts with the bowling themed decorations...it turned out so cute! My Mom is amazing at everything she does (oh, and Meg made the snowman centerpieces, which were amazing too...the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree in Meg and my Mom's case)...oh, and my sister-in-law Amy made these amazing cupcakes with white chocolate bowling-pin toppers :)

Some more of my cousins :)

Our next Holiday celebration was Christmas Eve. We always celebrate Christmas Eve in Heber City with my Dad. Christmas Eve with my Dad is one of the best nights of the year. We always eat amazing food, then we sing carols for hours, play a game or two, exchange presents, and then head home to get some sleep before the big day. Here are some pictures at my Dad's house on Christmas Eve:

Meg and I bought matching Christmas outfits...we HAD to people...we are twins after all :)

My sister Ashley and my niece Cameron hanging out before the festivities...Cameron was getting some new teeth so she was a slobbery mess. I love her as a slobbery mess!

Meg showing Cameron a picture of herself...

Singing carols...Exchanging presents...

Alright, I can't talk about Christmas anymore, it's making me miss it too much...I will post about Christmas day later...I hope all of you had as much fun during the Holidays as we did. Happy New Year! I can't wait for 2010 and all of the possibilities ahead!

About Me

Welcome to Hubbard's Cupboard! I decided to start this blog because I have enjoyed reading my friends blogs so much. I have been happily married for 8+ years. My twin sister Meg is my very best friend. I hope you enjoy my blog :)